MotherReader

In the next days, we’ll be releasing the names for this years Cybils panelists and judges. It is important to know that the selection process is not done lightly, and yet at the same time doesn’t make a definitive statement about you or your blog. Ann has written a bit about it at the Cybils blog, and she is right on target. The organizers work to create panels that are balanced, looking at literary experience and fresh voices and job titles and community participation and voracious reading and thoughtful writing and certainly a dozen more factors.

This is true for all categories, but I wanted to say something particularly to folks who made Fiction Picture Books their first choice. In terms of Cybils, you should know — well, I’m a giver. I do get a fair number of candidates and do share liberally with other related categories like Nonfiction Picture Books, Early Readers, and this year, Book Apps. The other organizers and I discuss best placement looking at your preferences and the skills you could bring to each category along with the needs of the panels. In the end, I can’t take all the potential volunteers in my category, but I thank you for your interest in this genre of books that holds my own heart.